9:00 am - #14 Baruch 3, Lehman 0 BOX SCORE

11:00 am - #14 Baruch 3, CCNY 0 BOX SCORE

7:00 pm - #2 Springfield 3, #14 Baruch 2 BOX SCORE

The #14-ranked men’s volleyball team won twice today in CUNYAC play and lost a non-conference heart-breaker in one of their busiest days in team history.

The Bearcats began the day at 9:00 am by playing Lehman, followed by CCNY at 11:00 am at the CUNYAC Multi-Match hosted by CCNY in Harlem. They returned to campus at night to play #2-ranked Springfield but lost in five sets in a thrilling encounter.

The Bearcats were forced to play three times today, including the national runner up with the third match, after a number of CUNYAC block schedule changes made during the off season. Initially, the team was only scheduled to play Springfield, but with various changes, they found themselves with three matches in one day.

They did not want to lose the home match against Springfield, so they opted to tough it out and almost pulled off one of the more memorable days in school history.

Despite playing two matches earlier, the Bearcats came out with plenty of energy in one of their most anticipated matches of the home schedule against Springfield.

They began by winning the first two sets with scores of 25-21 and 26-24. They won the second set with three straight blocks in dramatic fashion and hit .378 in the first set.

However, Springfield rallied by winning the next two sets to force the fifth-set tiebreaker. They hit an astonishing .714 in the winning fifth set to finally defeat the Bearcats.  

Freshman Danny Olson had a big evening for the Bearcats with 47 assists and 10 digs. Sophomore Jack McKee had an outstanding match with 16 kills by hitting a solid .306. Sophomore Nick Smith totaled 14 kills and eight digs. Senior Vincent Cruz hit .375 with 11 kills and five blocks.

Mike Pelletier led the visitors with 19 kills, hitting .472, with five digs and two blocks. At times, Pelletier’s effort was the major reason they rallied to win the match in their first appearance in the ARC Arena.

Overall, Springfield hit .415 with 65 kills, while the young Bearcats hit .289 with 60 kills.

Earlier in the day, the Bearcats swept Lehman in CUNYAC play with scores of 25-18, 25-18, 25-19. Freshman Christopher Kaimis led the way with eight kills hitting .500. Senior Sam Park had a solid all-around morning match with four kills, seven assists and two digs.

In the second match against CCNY, the Bearcats won 25-20, 25-18, 25-18. Cruz led the attack with 13 kills hitting .588. Sophomore Steven Coniglio had five kills hitting .833. Junior Aviv Elias totaled three kills hitting .500.
 
The Bearcats will return to action on Thursday, March 8, with a pair of CUNYAC matches against Medgar Evers at 6:00 and 8:00 pm.